Announcing the Release of
Mariposa Road:
The First
Butterfly Big Year
by Robert M.
Pyle

Read all about Bob Pyle's epic cross-country butterfly adventure!

Robert M. Pyle, the noted
lepidopterist, writer, and Xerces Society founder, spent 2008 on an historic
journey. Racing against the calendar, Bob crisscrossed the United States to find, experience,
and identify as many of the country's eight hundred species of butterflies as he could.
Bob's new release, Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year,
recounts his immense undertaking.

As the publisher says, "At turns whimsical, witty, informative, and
inspirational, Mariposa Road is an extraordinary journey of discovery that
leads the reader even farther into butterfly country and deeper into the heart
of the naturalist."

We would add that Mariposa
Road is Bob at his best. He combines natural
history with personal observations to weave an entrancing tale. This is a must
read.

To purchase the book or read
the complete book press release, please visit www.xerces.org.

Thank you to everyone who pledged or donated to the Butterfly-a-thon!

As Bob traversed the U.S. in search of butterflies, many of
you generously contributed to the Butterfly-a-thon fundraiser. Thanks to your
pledges of 5 cents, 10 cents, or even a dollar for each of the 488 butterfly species that Bob saw Xerces raised over $40,000!

This money is being used for conservation of threatened and endangered
butterfly species. The Butterfly-a-thon pledges have enabled us to:

develop land management plans for the Bureau of Land Management
to conserve the imperiled mardon skipper; as a result, the BLM is reducing many
of the threats this butterfly faces;

assist landowners, the Farm Service Agency, and the Natural
Resources Conservation Service in restoring habitat for the endangered Karner blue
butterfly in Wisconsin;

file Endangered Species Act petitions seeking federal protection
for Leona's little blue, the bay skipper, and the sand verbena moth and their
habitats;

launch a project to evaluate the status of monarch overwintering sites
on the California coast and provide tools to citizens and land managers to
protect those critical areas; and

initiate a project to work with the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service and
native seed producers to develop locally native species of milkweed for
monarch conservation in southern U.S. states.

These are just a few of our butterfly projects that have benefited
from Butterfly-a-thon pledges. We will continue to advocate for the protection
of many other rare, threatened, and often overlooked species of butterflies and
their habitats. To read more about our butterfly conservation program, please
visit www.xerces.org.

The Xerces Society is a nonprofit organization that protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitat. Established in 1971, the Society is at the forefront of invertebrate protection worldwide, harnessing the knowledge of scientists and the enthusiasm of citizens to implement conservation programs.

If you are not already a member, please consider joining the Xerces Society. As a member, you will receive two issues of our member magazine Wings each year. Wings is a full color magazine that highlights essays on invertebrate conservation and is a great addition to your home library. For more information on membership please visit the membership page on our website.

Our website allows Xerces Members to renew their membership online. If you are not sure when your membership expires, email suzanne@xerces.org or call the office at 503-232-6639. We want to make member renewal as easy as we can for our members, so please let us know if you have any suggestions.

Please visit our online store for books and publications on invertebrate conservation, including popular titles such as:· The Pollinator Conservation Handbook· Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America· Chasing Monarchs